We present the assets that collaboration across a land grant university brought to the table, and the Winterberry Citizen Science program design elements we have developed to engage our 1080+ volunteer berry citizen scientists ages three through elder across urban and rural, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and formal and informal learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Katie SpellmanJasmine ShawChristine VillanoChrista MulderElena SparrowDouglas Cost
We used a youth focused wild berry monitoring program that spanned urban and rural Alaska to test this method across diverse age levels and learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Katie SpellmanDouglas CostChristine Villano
This is the final evaluation report on the Laurel Clark Earth Camp Experience, a multi-component program to incorporate NASA satellite data into summer field programs for teens, environmental and water education for teachers, environmental after-school clubs and Earth Science exhibits at the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum.
The Museum of Aviation: STEM-ulating Georgia's Future Workforce Through Outreach project will build partnerships between the Museum of Aviation, STARBASE, six Georgia school districts, NASA, and volunteer mentors that promote STEM literacy, awareness of NASA's mission, and encourage the pursuit of STEM careers. This goal will be achieved through meeting the following objectives: -Promote lifelong learning by students, educators, and families, using NASA-themed STEM and missions via six outreach programs serving 10,750 participants (including 9,000 students, 1,600 parents, and 150 teachers). -Improve the understanding of NASA's missions, contributions to STEM disciplines and careers by students and faculty in grades pre K-8 by at least 35%. To accomplish the objectives, 6 STEM-based outreach programs will be provided to 12 school districts and will serve students, parents, and teachers. -ACE on the Go - STEM Modules use hands-on interactive activities for 2nd-5th graders -Family STEM Night - provides 2nd-5th graders and their families an opportunity to partake in 15 or more hands-on, interactive experiments that demonstrate STEM principles. -Aviation Outreach - introduces 6th-8th graders to aviation, and to STEM related careers. -STEM Afterschool - 6th-8th graders will learn about forces and motion and how forces make flight possible. -STARBASE 2.0 Afterschool STEM Mentoring Club consists of two components - a STEM Academy and a STEM Mentoring Afterschool Program both for underserved and at-risk youth in grades 6-8. -Teacher Training – STEM Workshops for teachers through the Georgia NASA RERC. This project will help to strengthen Georgia's future workforce by targeting students traditionally underserved and underrepresented in communities and in STEM fields. It will help attract and retain students in STEM disciplines by engaging students in STEM education and exposing them to STEM careers, and connect students, teachers, and families to NASA's mission by building strategic partnerships with formal education providers. The project will also help to strengthen the nation's and NASA's future workforce, attract and retain students in STEM disciplines, and engage Americans in NASA's mission.
The NASA Science Research Mentoring Program (NASA SRMP) is an established mentoring program that presents the wonders of space exploration and planetary sciences to underserved high school students from New York City through cutting-edge, research-based courses and authentic research opportunities, using the rich resources of the American Museum of Natural History. NASA SRMP consists of a year of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) and Astrophysics electives offered through the Museum’s After School Program, year-long mentorship placements with Museum research scientists, and summer programming through our education partners at City College of New York and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The primary goals of the project are: 1) to motivate and prepare high school students, especially those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, to pursue STEM careers related to EPS and astrophysics; 2) to develop a model and strategies that can enrich the informal education field; and 3) to engage research scientists in education and outreach programs. The program features five in-depth elective courses, offered twice per year (for a total of 250 student slots per year). Students pursue these preparatory courses during the 10th or 11th grade, and a select number of those who successfully complete three of the courses are chosen the next year to conduct research with a Museum scientist. In addition to providing courses and mentoring placements, the program has produced curricula for the elective courses, an interactive student and instructor website for each course, and teacher and mentor training outlines.
Informal Education at NASA Centers: Extending the Reach is a highly leveraged, modular, project-based approach to improving education opportunities for students, formal and informal educators, and life-long learners in NASA Ames Research Center’s local community and beyond. In partnership with the Aerospace Education, Research and Operations (AERO) Institute, NASA Ames has been developing two projects: Exploration Center Field Trips and Field Trip in a Box. California Teaching Fellows Foundation, as a sub awardee, has been expanding their After School University (ASU) program. The division has the goal of supporting NASA’s Education Outcome 2 with improved educational opportunities for all in the NASA Ames Visitor Center and opportunities to bring NASA content into the classroom to improve students understanding of STEM as well as improve teachers understanding and ability to teach NASA-related STEM topics. The division also has the goal of supporting NASA’s Education Outcome 3 by expanding ASU to include NASA-based STEM learning opportunities to 360 additional students in six rural schools as well as train 12 additional Teaching Fellows (Fresno State University future teachers). Through these objectives, NASA Ames has produced 10 Field Trip in a Box kits as well as new and expanded learning opportunities for all, especially 3rd – 8th grade classes, in the NASA Ames Visitor Center. ASU has reached 500 students in 10 schools and hosted 12-14 year old learners in a five-week computer-based flight simulation class, called Flying for Future Pilots.
Explore the Galaxy involved teens from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in planning for an upcoming exhibition and its interpretation. The Adler Planetarium worked with teens from several CPS high schools, with a special focus on the CPS Air Force Academy High School (AFAHS). The goals were to develop institutional partnerships and capacity for a teen docent program as well as to do formative evaluation for an upcoming exhibition. All goals were met. The Adler is now in year 4 of a comprehensive partnership with the AFAHS involving students from all four grades in field trips, activities, after-school clubs and Adler internships. The AFAHS students are now participants in an active teen internship program that places students in different Adler professional departments every summer. As well the Adler employs volunteer and paid teen interpreters on school year weekends. These relationships and programs depend on the foundations laid through the work of this grant. In the realm of exhibition design, teens also interviewed visitors about prior conceptions and interest in several areas related to cosmology including how gravity works and the size and age of the universe. Their comments influenced design of, The Universe a Walk through Space and Time, which opened in summer of 2012.
The Expanding Children’s Interest through Experiential Learning (EXCITE) Project will target K-8th students in expanded learning programs to increase ongoing NASA STEM informal education opportunities for organizations that serve primarily underrepresented and underserved student populations. The AERO Institute will leverage existing collaborations to build capacity of participating organizations in NASA inspired STEM activities. Major partners include Navajo Nation in Arizona, the Beyond the Bell branch of the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Region 8 of the California After School Program housed in the Ventura County of Education. In addition, the EXCITE Learning Project plans to work with libraries to broaden the scope and impact of NASA’s Education materials and opportunities within underrepresented and underserved local communities. AERO Education specialists will train educators and librarians using the Train-the-Trainer approach. The training sessions will be filmed and made available online via the AERO website and its network on YouTube so that educators and librarians can refresh their understanding as needed.